Antecedents and prevalence of destructive leadership behaviour: the case in primary and middle level schools

The main purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the antecedents and prevalence of destructive leadership behaviour in primary and middle-level schools of the state of Amhara, Ethiopia. A mixed approach with an embedded research design was employed. Multi-stage stratified sampling was applied to select 748 teacher respondents. One sample t-test, multiple regression and hierarchical multiple regression model were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that antecedents of destructive leadership were moderately exhibited in Primary and Middle-Level Schools. When the prevalence of destructive leadership was regressed on susceptible followers, leader behaviour and conducive environment antecedents of destructive leadership, 61% of the variance in the prevalence of destructive leadership behaviour was accounted for by the interplay of susceptible followers, leader behaviour and conducive environment. Leader behaviour antecedent of DLB contributes more to the prevalence of destructive leadership behaviour among principals in primary and middle schools. Based on the findings of the study it is inferred that the antecedents of destructive leadership were moderately exhibited in the primary and middle-level schools of the study area. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.